APA In-text Citations and Use of Direct Quotes

APA In-text Citations and Use of Direct Quotes

1. Any usage of another person’s words or ideas must be attributed to that person using an in-text citation. In APA, the citation may appear either before or after the material is presented.  If the citation appears before, no parentheses are used.  Citations placed after the material begin attributed normally use parentheses.  Here are two examples:

According to Smith and Jones (2018), first year teachers believe green classrooms are more conducive to learning than red classrooms.

Research suggests that first year teachers believe green classrooms are more conducive to learning than red classrooms (Smith & Jones, 2018).

Some couple of important notes:

1. When the citation is not in parentheses (like the first example), the word “and” is always spelled out. If the citation is in parentheses (the second example), the ampersand (&) is always used. If you cite a source with more than 2 authors, please review examples on p. 175 of the APA Publication Manual, 6^th
2. Since there is no direct quotation here, you do not need a page number in the citation.
3. If the citation comes at the end of the sentence, the ending punctuation is always outside the close parentheses.

2. If you use a direct quote, you must cite that quotation using the author name(s), date of publication and the page number (paragraph number if the material is unpaginated). Quotations of less than 40 words should be incorporated into the sentence:

Jones (1998) asserts, “Teachers who wear green socks on Thursdays exhibit more job satisfaction than those who wear red or blue ones” (p. 6).

One finding suggests “Teachers who wear green socks on Thursdays exhibit more job satisfaction than those who wear red or blue ones” (Jones, 1998, p. 6).

If you use a quote of 40 words or more, the quote must be blocked:

In terms of first year teacher dress, Jones (1998) asserts

Teachers who report wearing green socks on Thursdays reported extremely high levels of job satisfaction whereas those who chose to wear red or blue were less satisfied with their jobs. Turtleneck sweaters, sneakers, and blue jeans were found to have no effect on teacher satisfaction. (p. 6)

In terms of first year teacher dress, one researcher asserts

Teachers who report wearing green socks on Thursdays reported extremely high levels of job satisfaction whereas those who chose to wear red or blue were less satisfied with their jobs. Turtleneck sweaters, sneakers, and blue jeans were found to have no effect on teacher satisfaction. (Jones, 1998, p. 6)

Please note in a blocked quote, the ending punctuation goes before the citation!